Cooking Training Can Reduce Salt Levels in Chinese Take-out Meals

Chinese dishes have high levels of salt contents. Cooking training for Chinese take-out chefs and restaurant owners can help to reduce the excess sodium content in the foods they serve with no substantial loss of taste, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in Public Health Reports.

A research team from Temple University's Center for Asian Health investigated the effectiveness of a sodium-reduction training intervention, "Healthy Chinese Take-Out Initiative," which trained chefs from 206 Chinese take-out restaurants in the low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Initiative included:

professionally led, culturally tailored training on healthy, low-sodium cooking

low-sodium cooking materials such as recipes and measurement spoons

a citywide mass-media campaign on sodium reduction

annual one-on-one booster training and compliance checks

The researchers monitored the sodium in three popular dishes - shrimp and broccoli, chicken lo mein, and General Tso's chicken - in 40 restaurants and found significant reductions in the sodium content of all three dishes 36 months after the initial training intervention.

"These findings demonstrate the feasibility and potential benefits to population health of a coordinated partnership among public health agencies, academic institutions, and community businesses and organizations to reduce sodium in restaurants," wrote the study authors.

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